Manet, Boudin and Pre-Impressionism

From the 1860s, Édouard Manet was the acknowledged leader of French avant-garde painting. Although he never exhibited with the Impressionists, his colorful images of modern life—subject matter that was unacceptable in the officially sanctioned world of traditional painting—provided a crucial example for the younger artists. The Bloch Collection’s important painting by Manet, The Croquet Party, is displayed here publicly for the first time since 1886. It highlights Manet’s ability to evoke a “captured moment,” another key characteristic of impressionist painting.

The Bloch Collection also contains three marine paintings by Eugène Boudin, a pioneering figure in the eventual acceptance of finished paintings done entirely outdoors, a practice previously restricted to oil sketches alone. Perhaps best known as the teacher of Claude Monet, Boudin’s luminous paintings in this exhibition represent a mini-retrospective spanning the main decades of this artist’s career.

Édouard Manet, 1832-1883
The Croquet Party (La partie de croquet), 1871
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Édouard Manet, 1832-1883
White Lilacs in a Crystal Vase (Lilas blancs dans un vase de cristal), 1882 or 1883
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Eugène Boudin, 1824-1898
The Beach (La plage), c. 1865
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Eugène Boudin, 1824-1898
Trouville, Beach Scene (Trouville, scène de plage), 1874
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Eugène Boudin, 1824-1898
Boats Decorated with Flags in the Port of Deauville (Bateaux pavoisiers dans le bassin, Deauville), 1895
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